Dark Piece
by Squeee
Summary: How would his adventure be if he wasn't the "pure and naive" Luffy? A darker and less naive Luffy might be cool too. Come join me to find out. And expect some good cute pairings(Expect more than the ones tagged as FanFiction has a limit). Rated M for plot safety as I still don't have it in mind but it may go over the T rate at some point.
1. Introduction I

**DICLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.**

* * *

What would happen if the captain wasn't as naive as he looked like and his power was from the same kind as his brothers.

What would happen if he was trained by the best marine grandfather to be the best marine of all and was initiated by one of the four emperors to the pirate world.

Though, don't get me wrong on this. He will be neither a marine nor an underling for the emperor.

First his power coming as a gift for being born from his father.

Second is fighting ability as a grace from his grandfather.

Third is ambition from the emperor.

Last but no least is his will to achieve what a pirate inspired him with the teachings of a marine and the power given from the head of the revolutionary army.

What will happen to the world when he becomes king? No one knows and everybody is sure.

That is, no one knows what it is going to be but everybody is sure that is going to be one hell of a fun world.

* * *

"Hey, what did you write just now?" a woman's voice could be heard from behind as the book quickly closed and slid into an inner pocket of the man's overcoat.

"Shishishi, nothing. Maybe I was just scribbling or drawing." the man turned his face to the woman with large smile on his face.

"Hmph! Suit yourself. If you don't want to share then don't after all you are the captain." charmingly pouting and speaking with her face away from him the woman couldn't be any more alluring that now.

"Come on, don't be like that. You know that there are no secrets between us and when is just the two of us there is no need for formalities either." bringing her into his embrace he lifted her chin and placed a light kiss on her lips.

Distancing her face from his to have a better look on his face she couldn't help but smirk.

"Unfair." just as her words left, her mouth went after his as if looking for her fleeting words inside his mouth.

A nice and good long frencFh kiss that drowned them both.

The parting of the lips for a few seconds to catch gasps of air only for the lips to meet again.

After a few more exchanges the lips parted and the heads got a little away from each other.

Crimson red.

That's how both faces could be described as.

"It is time for us to head out. Everybody should be waiting for us." turning around so she could catch some breath.

She left his embrace and straightened her clothes and went to wait besides the door.

"Who is the unfair one?" the man only had a smile on his red face as he looked at the woman as if in a daze.

He tried as best as he could to control the color of his face while also straightening his clothes.

"Tell me how am I supposed to look at everyone in the eye with me in this state." though his clothes were in order the same couldn't be said for his face.

"Just tell them that you got sunburned. Hihihi" with a hand covering her mouth, her alluring laugh caught his attention.

Without a moment before the laugh vanished, the lips met one more time.

"Shishishi, I guess it means that we both got sunburned then." the man opened the door while laughing and stepped outside as the woman boldly followed his steps without hesitation as her flushed face was even more evident now.

"Hey Luffy. What were you doing right before your first speech as the captain of Straw-Hats Fleet? Until now it was okay since it was just us from the ship but now you have to set an image for all of those who are part of the subdivisions." one eye closed and the other fiercely staring at him.

"Shishishi, did Robin write what you just said Zoro?" as he laughed at his companion he slowly walked to the figurehead of a giant lion.

"No but everything from the moment we appear on is all written by me, Captain Luffy." through her words a small giggle could be felt as she fought hard to not let it out loud.

"Shishishi, I guessed as much since Zoro would probably just slash something in the air and yell some battle words at everyone if left for him. By the way, what's up with the _Captain Luffy_ stuff? There has never been this side of us." as they approached the figurehead a loud noise could be heard.

"We have to present ourselves better in front of the others, Captain." a man by his side was lightening his cigarette and puffing a few clouds of smoke to calm himself.

"Even you Sanji? Okay, I won't say more but you better drop the act as soon as this is over." just as his words finished so did his path to the figurehead.

Standing proudly with his people by his side.

To his right side were Zoro, Robin, Usopp and Franky respectively while to his left were Nami, Sanji, Chopper and Brook.

In front of him was a myriad of ships all under one flag of a skull wearing a hat made of straw.

Grabbing the Den Den Mushi in front of him.

"Hmm ... Hello!" few words and a grin.

"Though I'm here today to give speech as the Captain of this fleet I don't really want to do it ... " as his words left his mouth the people by his side couldn't help but start to fight hard not to laugh.

"... actually if it wasn't for my crew saying that it would be too troublesome to keep running around and doing everything ourselves and that some self acclaimed _sons and daughters_ of mine needed to be brought under I really wouldn't even bother getting anyone else aboard my ship ... " while some were laughing in the crowd others had dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"... but I won't complain for a decision made by the whole crew unless it goes against what I want sometimes." pausing to catch his breath he glanced at all of those in front of him to see their reaction because for the ones besides him there wasn't even a need to look as their laughs was loud to the point of interfering with the transmission.

"So as the Captain of the Straw-hat Fleet I order each and every one of you! Do as you please and be **FREE**! Shishishi." he grabbed a bottle near him lifting it high up as his voice reached each and everyone present.

Just as his words sank into everybody's ear loud cheers followed.

"And now ... LET THE BANQUET BEGIN!"

* * *

"After all the trouble I had to go to remember every word Robin wrote on that speech you go ahead and make it all for naught." Zoro gulped a large mug of beer while taking a bite on a piece of meat.

"Shishishi, at least you didn't need to worry about saying something wrong." Luffy was with a piece of meat on each hand eating and laughing with everyone around him.

"Well, what else could we expect from Luffy? That is just how he is." Usopp was just like Zoro with a mug in one hand and meat on the other.

"It is already good enough that he didn't disband the fleet before he even began it." Sanji was bringing another huge plate of food with another barrel of beer.

"Fufufu, I actually had a good guess that he would make something like this and that is why I made Zoro remember all of that." Robin's giggled as she looked at Zoro.

"Then why did you make me remember all of that? I really had a hard time trying to." emptying another mug and looking directly at Robin he could help but sigh.

It was obvious to everyone present that she was just teasing him all the time even making him needlessly remember a full speech without missing a word.

"What is done is done. There is no use thinking about it anymore. Shishishi but maybe I should have let Zoro speak before I went up." laughing while eating and drinking as if nothing else mattered was a trade mark of this captain.

"For gods sake Luffy, at least show some restraint in front of all the other captains from the ships in the fleet. How are they to act when the captain of the fleet acts like you do?" Nami that was silently looking over the situation couldn't help but try to correct Luffy's behavior in front of everybody else.

"They should act like they want to. None of my business as long as they don't try to interfere with my ship. Shishishi."

"Yohohoho! It has been a long time since I did a great show as this one. It makes me feel alive again even though I'm already dead. Yohoho" just as everybody was chatting Brook came over with a towel around his neck on his performance costume.

"Yo, Brook. How was the show?" Luffy lifted his head to see Brook who was sitting around with everybody else.

"Marvelous. It makes your bones shake with excitement. Yohohoho." Brook who just sat with them took out a guitar and started to play while they chatted.

"By the way, weren't Chopper and Franky with you? Why don't I see them anywhere?" Usopp noticed the absence of the remaining 2 main straw-hats.

"Chopper notice that we had run out of some medicine and decided to head to a nearby port and Franky went along with him." considering Chopper's personality even if they were in the middle of a party he would prioritize his duty as doctor first so it was comprehensive.

Just as they were talking Luffy stopped eating and stood up which caused everyone to stare at him as he stopped eating.

"What happened Luffy? Why did you stop eating?" Nami who was close to him was the first to ask why the different behavior.

Smiling to her from ear to ear just a word left his mouth. "Toilet."

"Don't take too long or else when Chopper and Franky arrive you won't be here." Nami who judged it as nothing more returned to chat with the others.

Just as he got inside the ship where there was no one near a Den Den Mushi started to ring inside his coat's inner pocket.

"Got it." the call was short and his response short as well.

As the call ended another Den Den Mushi could be heard ringing inside the ship.

"Yo Chopper, what is taking you so long just to come back after buying some medicine?" Luffy's merry voice went through the Den Den Mushi but no answer came back.

"Hey, are you hearing me Chopper?" His voice not so merry now.

After a few seconds of silence.

"How have you been straw-hat? It has been a long time since we saw it each has it not? Guess since your brothers death maybe?" the voice that came back was in no way Chopper's or Franky's voice. It was a heavy and grave voice that all of them knew pretty well.

"What did you do to them, Akainu?" Luffy's face was dark as he stared in the direction that Chopper and Franky supposedly went.

"Them? For now they are just locked away. But if a certain pirate fleet captain doesn't do as said they may be executed before their trial for trying to break from imprisonment." the threatening voice from the other side was venous.

"Speak."

"We know that you just formed your straw hat fleet and that is not something that we can ignore ..." the voice spoke slowly as to sink the words in.

" ... and so, even though it goes against my wish it is an absolute order and we are willing for a negotiation." Akainu's voice stopped after his words went through.

"Continue."

"The head for the body. We want you in exchange for your crew, of course you are more than welcome to come and battle it out for them but I'm sure that the executioners blade is not going to wait for you to try and get near them." Akainu's voice contained all the poison he could probably infuse in his words.

"What if I decline and go to war?" the captain's voice was clearly angrier than ever before.

"Foosha Village, Cocoyasi Village, Shimotsuki Village, Syrup Village, Restaurant Baratie, Alabasta Kingdom, Drum Island, Water 7 and a whale at the beginning. All under the vigilance of vice admirals with a buster call in hand ready to proceed." at each name mentioned by Akainu, Luffy's brows creased further.

"And how do you expect me to believe someone who offers such kind of negotiations?" Luffy's voice was heavy as his anger could be felt through the Den Den Mushi.

"I expect that your grandfather taught you the marine code of honor, didn't him? _Justice above all but Honor above Justice_ though we use only the first part on our banners but we from the upper leaders position follow mainly the second part." Akainu's voice was firm as if stating a fact know to all.

"What happens to my crew after I've been captured?" Luffy's voice was clearly more worried about this topic over his own safety.

"Nothing ... if they behave themselves." the sinister voice made by the fleet admiral was as if saying that he hoped for something to happen.

"The location for the exchange?" Luffy's voice was resolute.

"Your crew will be left on the port city they were capture while you will come 100 km to the east. There will be a marine warship waiting for you there." Akainu's voice was clear and heavy as if sentencing someone to death with pleasure.

"As soon as I have confirmation of them being released I'll head to the exchange point."

"I'll be waiting."

* * *

 **Author Notes:**

That was one hell of a long chapter for a introduction but I don't think it clearly explain what I'm trying to accomplish since I'll try to rewrite most of the arcs from One Piece, it may turn bad and it my not but I think it is going to have a nice taste.

I do like the original work very much and that is why I want to write "another version" with a dark side Luffy, though still someone who gets kicked around in the beginning (sometimes at the end too) of the arcs. For his power I have 2 possible powers that have almost the same usage but by the next chapter I'll have it decided.

I've spell checked and proofread it but may have missed some errors so please pm me/review to let me know if any are spotted.

I'm working on this project but didn't forget about my other works it's just that I can't seem to write something cool as a new chapter for them.

For this piece I have more ideas than I can currently write as RL keeps getting busier and busier but I still find some time since I like this plot I'm playing with.

100 km something around 62.2 miles.


	2. Introduction II

**DICLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.**

* * *

As the call ended Luffy sighed as he put the Den Den Mushi away.

The captain decided to head to the boy's quarters instead of returning to the other straw-hats that were happily chatting at the banquet.

Ruffling through his things looking for something he didn't think he would ever use aside for playing pranks on his friends.

"Finally found you." Just as he was getting a little impatient he found a small shell. "And I didn't even use as much as I wanted either."

What he fished from his stuff was in fact a Tone Dial, a shell used on Skypiea as a mean to record sounds ... including voices.

After staring for a while at the little shell on his hands he began recording his message though even before he finished saying everything he wanted his Den Den Mushi on his pocket started ringing again.

Picking it up and answering he couldn't help but look at the bed and bags from his friends inside the room.

" ... " answering the snail without replying he just stood there waiting.

"As for the terms they are at the port and ready to be set free. All that is need now is the cuffs but that only comes after your part of the deal is conclude." the voice from the other side was from a woman and her voice was cold and detached as if she didn't have any feelings.

"I'm leaving then. I'll be at the agreed point in about a few minutes." Luffy replied as he cut the call before waiting for the reply.

He sneakily left the room and made his way for the helm looking at his friends who were happily chatting on deck with a few captains from other pirate ships such as Jewelry Bonny from the Bonny Pirates and Cavendish from the Beautiful Pirates and Bartolomeu from the Barto Club and Sai from the Happo Navy and Hajrudin from the New Giant Warrior Pirates and many others.

"Shishishi, not even half a day passed and we already attracted such trouble." Looking over the scenario he could help but laugh. "There is no use thinking things over since it came to this." truthfully speaking he didn't think that Akainu was able to pull a mass buster call on so many different places as he said but there was a great chance that he could on at least 2 or 3 of the places using the excuse of association with pirates and conspiring against the world government since a few of them had clearly sided with Luffy on some situations.

He carefully placed his hat on the wheel and the dial on arm the captain's chair before taking a final look at his friends behind. "If I somehow make it out of this one I should really go on a little vacation with everybody else. We've been sailing non-stop since we came to the new world and the only times we actually docked we ended up fighting the moment we stepped on land."

"It sure must be stressing having a captain like me." He slowly made his way to the lion figurehead as his image started to fade as if he was turning transparent like the wind. "Shishishi..."

The only vestige of Luffy that remained was his laugh that echoed on the helm of Sunny Go.

* * *

Arriving at the meeting place, Luffy could clearly see a marine on his uniform standing proudly at the front of the ship and equally proud was Luffy stand mid-air analyzing everything and everyone on the ship.

Behind him several other big personas from the Marine could be seen, some of them he had already met once or even crossed blades with such as Kizaru and Fujitora.

"Maaah~ why don't you get down here and peacefully hand yourself over to us?" a lazy voice sounded from the man behind Akainu that seemed as if he couldn't care less if Luffy was apprehended or not today.

"Shishishi, that is what I call a big welcoming." Luffy couldn't help but let his laugh escape him as he looked at everyone. "It seems that even if I wanted to escape today there would be no way for me to from the moment I got here."

Even though no one moved when he got closer or when he talked, it was clear that every official present was ready to draw their swords and fight him at any show of resistance or attempt to escape.

"Straw-hat, even though we have fought a few times after our meeting at Dressrosa I believe it we have yet to truly find who is stronger." Fujitora lifted his head as if trying to see with his blind eyes. "It really is a shame to not be able to witness this scene."

"Shishishi, If you truly couldn't see what should be seen then I think we would have already had our final showdown." Luffy laughed nonetheless at the words from the admiral. "Though you only have yourself to blame for being blinded, shishishi. As for your luck ... I just win."

Akainu was staring blankly at Luffy that was still mid-air looking down on all present.

His patience clearly running out as he bellowed "How long do you plan to stay up there looking down at us?!" and just as his words left his mouth a series to meteor like lava fists started raining down where Luffy was.

Though as Akainu's attack was getting closer to him a gust of wind blew the fists away at the direction of the ship where all the officials were.

"Call down will you?" Luffy just looked at Akainu in the eyes as he reached into his coat's inner pocket taking out a Den Den Mushi and saying "I already complete my part of the deal, what about yours? I know that I can't defeat everyone of you here at the same time but I don't believe that I can't escape with my life either."

Akainu snorted as Luffy's words were clearly provoking him and the same as saying that even with the fleet admiral and another dozen of strong fighters of at least vice admiral rank they were unable to keep him if he wanted to leave.

And what infuriated him all the more was that he actually knew that it was the truth.

"You may try fleeing if you wish but you better not think it will be that ease." half of his body was already turning to magma as his temper was clearly reaching its limits.

Before any exchange between them actually happened Kizaru was already with a Den Den Mushi in hand calling someone "Yeah yeah~ You can release them already." and with the end of the call with some simple words he looked at Luffy again opening his mouth "It is as you have seen and the other to release was already issued ..."

Though before he finished his words his body turned to light particles and traveled behind Luffy " ... why don't you stop looking down and peacefully surrender?" and different from his words his body was already performing an overhead kick in order to send the captain straight down to the water.

"You do know that your words and your actions don't match, don't you?" as the feet neared his head all he could do in time was reinforce his arm with haki to withstand the kick.

And after the small boat it was clear that none of them had the upper hand when confronting the other as they came to a stalemate but before the little confront developed into a battle Luffy raised his hands and slowly made his way to the warship stopping right in front of Fujitora.

"I guess that means you can return to the marine HQ after you apprehend me, right? Shishishi" silly laughing at Fujitora after all of their little battles with each other they understood the other more than if they spent a decades chatting.

"That seems to be the case. Though I can't say that I'm happy with how it turned out but the truth is that it did turn out like this." making a signal for a subordinate behind, Fujitora kept in front of Luffy as the man called brought with him a pair of sea stone cuffs.

Looking at the man chaining his hands and feet he could feel the effect of the sea stone as his energy slowly escaped him.

"It seems that my adventure will have to wait for a latter time. Shishishi." as he entered his weak state from the sea stone's effect on a devil fruit eater he couldn't help but laugh as the best he could do was muster the strength need to keep standing straight.

* * *

At the same time when Luffy arrived at the warship, on his ship.

"Hey, isn't Luffy taking too long? I don't think he would take this long to do anything when food is waiting for him." the one who first noticed the long time that their captain was taking to come back was Usopp as one of his buddies of fooling around was out to buy medicine and the remaining one still didn't come back from the toilet.

"Why don't you go check on him then?" to Usopp's words Nami turned to him as if she couldn't be bothered that her captain was taking so long in the toilet.

And without saying another word the sniper got up and headed inside the Sunny Go to look for the captain though a few minutes latter he came back with a confused face.

"I can't find him anywhere inside the ship. Did he go somewhere? I thought that I might have missed him while searching but it doesn't seem he came back." at Usopp's words the whole crew thought something was amiss as their captain would not simply disappear like this.

"Did you look all the bathrooms?" Nami's voice had a tinge of worry as she had a bad premonition.

But before anyone could say anything, Chopper and Franky came rushing in the ship.

"Where is Luffy?!" Chopper screamed at the top of his lungs as he saw his comrades together.

At the state of the reindeer and the look on Franky's face it was obvious that something happened but they had yet to know where their captain was.

"Calm down, Chopper." Usopp intercepted the running reindeer as he charged at the group with panic on his face "Why are you in such a rush?"

"When we left to buy the medicine we were attacked as soon as we left the drugstore by some marines and the Cipher Pol that were waiting in ambush." the reindeer was almost out of breath as he gasped for air to narrate what happened and as he talked the crew knew that something was about to happen.

"We ended up being captured as we let our guards down thinking that it was safe ..." Franky's took over the narrative as it was clear that the doctor was in no condition to keep narrating.

"And when I woke up I heard them saying something about Luffy surrendering himself in exchange for us but we couldn't contact anyone as they took our Den Den Mushi." his face turning worst as his words left his mouth.

"And a few minutes ago we were released in the port." as his words made its way to everyone on the deck, including the other captains, they knew what probably happened.

An idiot captain accepted such trade and went to deliver himself on a silver plate to the marine.

"Search for him on the ship!" Zoro's voice could be heard loud and clear as everyone that was partying at the deck stopped and rushed inside the ship to look for any clues.

After a few seconds a shout could be heard from the helm "Everyone come here!" the owner of the voice was their navigator.

When all the crew got to the helm what they saw as their navigator sitting on the floor with a straw-hat on her embrace near the wheel with a tone dial in hand while tears ran down her face.

Zoro took the tone dial and pressed to play the record.

"Hello everyone, if you are listening to this then it means that you probably already guessed that I'm not on the ship anymore." the voice on the dial was undeniably their captain.

"First of all, Franky, Chopper."the two who got called out flinched "It was not your fault. We simply attracted too much attention this time shishishi." the captain's voice was clear to all near them hearing the message.

"Second, when was it that we didn't attract too much attention? So it also isn't because the fleet so all of you shouldn't think too much." as the words were played the face of everyone changed constantly.

"Third, I would trade my life for each and everyone of you but I guess you all know that and I left without telling anyone because I knew that none of you would let me go." fists closed so tight that the sound of bones cracking could be heard.

There was a pause before the next words were played "Lastly, don't come. I don't wish to see all of your suffering faces if I have to go to the execution platform."

And just like that the message finished playing.

Everyone present looked at each other coming to a mutual understanding and without the need to say any words the crew and the other captains walked to the ship's headfigure were the speech was carried moments ago.

In order, each and every pirate captain stood shouted for their crew.

"Bonny Pirates!" Jewelry.

"Beautiful Pirates!" Cavendish.

"Barto Club!" Bartolomeu.

"Happo Navy!" Sai.

"New Giant Warrior Pirates!" Hajrudin.

and so on until only the straw-hat crew was left.

"Everyone listen!" Zoro took over the responsibility to speak "WE ARE AT WAR! THE MARINES ARE GOING TO REGRET TAKING ACTION!" Zoro announced with a hair raising shout as his anger could be felt clearly.

"Prepare to sat sail at any moment!" as his last command ended the sound of the party died and the sound of pirates getting battle ready could be heard from each and every ship present.

* * *

Inside the the prison area of the warship there were only two people.

One in each side of the bars of a cell.

A pirate and a marine.

"Do you even know how much trouble you are going to bring to us after we announce your capture?" between sips on his tea cup the man outside the cell seated on the floor looked at the other man that was likewise seated on the floor next to the bars with his feet and hands still tied.

"Shishishi. It will probably be a lot more fun than just sitting all day on a ship hunting down pirates." also sipping on his tea cup Luffy couldn't help but laugh at the troubled expression his blind rival had in front of him "You know that you don't have what it takes to be a marine admiral, don't you?"

Though most people on his position would actually be angry after being told so, Fujitora actually broke into a laugh.

"And what makes you think this?" the admiral asked while taking a pack of crackers and offering one for Luffy without hiding his laughter.

"Where else would you see a marine admiral sharing a tea time with a pirate he captured? Shishishi." the big smile on the captain's face made it seem more like a chat between friends than between two people of opposite sides of the society "Though I can think of someone that would do the same as you are doing now. Shishishi."

They both laughed for a while as the situation really was an uncommon one.

A pirate and a marine chatting over a cup of tea in the prison area of a marine warship.

"Hey, Fujitora. Can I ask you to free my hands? And a pen too." at Luffy's more than uncommon request the marine admiral couldn't help but be a more than little surprised.

"Why would you request it? Though I can do something about the pen but taking the cuffs is another story." Fujitora's face turned grave at out of place request.

"Shishishi. Don't need to be on guard, its just that a while ago I noticed that I didn't keep a log book from my adventure and started writing one." Luffy place his hand inside the overcoat on his shoulders he fished out a little notebook with his Jolly Roger on the cover "When they were looking for weapons or any communications devices on me earlier they actually took my pen. As for the hands, it is troublesome to write with the cuffs."

Laughing out loud which didn't fit his character Fujitora called for his subordinate that was outside the cell's area and a man came rushing in.

"Remove the cuffs from his hands also, give me your pen." the man didn't understand anything that was happening but complied anyway and left as it didn't seem he would receive any other order from the admiral.

"Is this enough?"

* * *

 **Author Notes:**

Finally the introduction is over!

And as it can be seen I will be rewriting the adventures through his log book but expect more than only his POV and I plan to use only canon characters(which is more than I can probably use since there is just too many characters on this manga, **Good Job Oda-sensei!** ).

For those of you wondering, no light, and consequently Borsalino, is still faster than him. Though he is about 5 times faster than sound.

I spell checked and proof read this chapter but as can be seen english is not my mother language so if you spot any mistakes/errors just pm/review and I'll fix it.

By the way, I won't leave it all to imagination as for what happens next as I plan for every arc I rewrite to release a little bit about the war preparations and the war itself. (Mainly because if I tried to rewrite everything before publishing the war I would probably die before I know the ending of OP to try and rewrite it)


	3. Dawn Island

**DICLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.**

* * *

The rays of sunlight were already long gone and the only source of light inside the forest was from a campfire.

"Grandpa I can't endure anymore ... I don't even feel my arms anymore. Look I can't even see them. I'm so hungry~" a small boy was complaining as he lay on the ground near the campfire while old man whom he called grandpa was silently roasting a huge boar.

Looking at his grandson lying on the ground complaining he just gave a light flicker to his forehead "If you can't see your arms then why don't you try materializing them again, Luffy?" half ignoring his grandson's complain and half watching the meat, which was more like 100% watching the meat he didn't waste any more time replying to the little boy.

Slightly lifting a boar leg and bringing to his mouth he just grinned while looking at the salivating boy "If you can't feel your arms nor see them then you can't have this meat. I better eat it all before it spoils." taking a huge bite and looking at his grandson acting cute on the floor.

"Ah! Unfair, don't start eating without me." the boy lying on the ground quickly sat up as his arms appeared as he grabbed a huge piece of meat and started chewing "Shishishi, grandpa's roasted boar is the best." the old man couldn't help but smile at his grandson's behavior.

"Bwahahaha, you little thing trying to act cute for me to let you eat some of my share too? Dream on!" just as the old man said his fist suddenly shot forward grabbing an invisible windy transparent hands aiming for his share of meat in front of him.

"Aah~ Let go, grandpa! I won't do it again!" the little boy screamed as he was startled by his hand being grabbed so effortlessly " Noooo~ not my rib! I was saving it for last." though as punishment for trying to steal food the old man actually took a bite at one of the pork ribs on the boy's plate taking it whole into his mouth.

"Bwahahaha, it's still to early for you to steal food from me, Luffy." just as he was laughing he notice that one pork leg from his plate actually disappeared "You little ... you actually used your rib as a bait to steal my leg!"

"Shishishi~" Luffy was happily laughing with a big bone's end sticking out of his mouth while Garp also let out laugh and with both of them trying to take meat from each others plate they kept on eating and laughing until the whole roasted pork was gone as even his bones were chewed.

As the two were now lying next to each other with bulging bellies after eating the first to speak was the boy.

"Grandpa, how come you can grab me when my arm can turn into air. Even more your punches actually hurt me while others can't even touch me." Luffy got up and sat looking at his grandfather that similarly also sat up.

"Bwahahaha, that is because of my fist of love or else how would I be able to show you how love is?" Garp laughed heartily at his grandson really confused face when asking him "Besides it is your father's fault for giving you that damn fruit, if it wasn't for that idiot son of mine I would be taking you to dive with me to hunt some sea monsters, bwahahaha."

"Time to sleep Luffy. I'm leaving tomorrow morning so you better not cause more troubles for the people in the village while I'm gone." Garp said while warmly looking at Luffy that was already dozing off almost falling asleep.

* * *

Next day in the early morning a marine warship with Garp aboard could be seen leaving Dawn Island and just as the ship disappeared in the horizon the laugh of a young boy of about 7 years old could be heard as he was running around playing in the village.

"Makino make me some meat please!" as soon as he opened the swinging doors of the bar his loud voice startled the other patrons of the business.

"Hahaha~ I guess your grandfather already left, Luffy." a green haired young lady with brown eyes wearing an orange blouse with black sleeves and a blue skirt replied from behind the bar counter "You must have enjoyed this time pretty much since he stayed for so long."

"Shishishi~ It was fun playing with grandpa though his fists hurt when he hits me." Luffy said running to the stool by the counter in front of Makino.

Pressing the tip of a wet handkerchief on his cheeks she giggled looking at him "Look at you all dirty from playing and your grandfather just left."

"Shishishi~" the only reply to her comment was the boy silly grin as he accepted her care.

"So, what do you want to eat?" finished cleaning his face she turned around preparing to cook meat for the boy "Ah, but keep in mind that _All the meat in the world_ is not an answer for this question."

"Shishishi~ all the meat you can cook is good too." the laughing boy couldn't keep his laugh to himself as he looked forward for the meal prepared by Makino that spoiled him a lot while Garp was away.

After a few minutes she came back with a plate filled with meat and of course another plate filled with vegetables and though she liked spoiling him she still watched over his diet and upon seeing his face she could only let out a laugh and "You know the rules. First the vegetables dish them all the meat on the plate is yours."

"But I like only the meat, Makino." pouting at the sight of vegetables was a common thing to happen when he came to the bar "Meat is the only thing a man needs."

"It's not good to be a picky eater, Luffy." she placed the vegetables dish in front of him while holding the meat dish on the other hand away.

They boy just placed all the vegetables in his mouth barely chewing them making "Ugh." sounds as if trying to get rid on them as fast as possible so he could eat his delicious meat but just before he could finally begin eating his meat a loud crowd entered the bar.

"Yo Makino. How have you been? Bring out some of sake for us!" a red haired man entered and made his way to the bar counter.

"Oh . How was you trip this time?" she turned around greeting the customer that entered the bar as he was already an old customer.

"Dahahaha~ It was incredible. We even got a great treasure from another pirate ship that attacked us." Shanks sat at the stool next to Luffy and distractedly just casually picked up a rib from the pile of meat on Makino's hand.

"Ah! Shanks you idiot! That is my meat." Luffy's heart felt scream for someone touching his meat was heard clear in the bar.

"Dahahaha~ Didn't notice you since you was eating a lady's meal Luffy." Shanks clearly had seen the little rascal fighting his vegetables dish but just so he could tease him he decided to ignore him in the beginning.

Makino looking at the smile on Shanks face knew exactly what was on his mind and reprimanded him "Shanks! What are you saying to him!".

"Oh, sorry Makino. Hey Luffy remember to finish your lady's dish before you eat the man's meal. Dahahaha~" Shanks just couldn't avoid wanting to tease the little one

Laughter echoed in the bar as the band of pirates was merrily singing and chatting together while Shanks was at the counter telling stories of his adventures to Luffy.

"Hey Shanks, let me join your crew." and just like multiple times before, after hearing Shanks stories he would ask to join the crew and ...

"No way!" was the same reply as ever from the red headed captain "Only man can be part of a pirate crew and you are just a kid."

"I'm not a kid anymore." Luffy bravely declared standing on the stool "I'm a man already."

"Yeah yeah you are a man. Here some juice." Shanks grabbed a glass of juice on the counter and offered it to Luffy which responded in kind and ...

"Thanks! Shishishi~" drank happily.

"Dahahaha~ Still a kid." Shanks laughed so hard that he was holding onto his sides while looking at Luffy.

"Ah! That was unfair!" Luffy glared at his friend laughing at him "I'll prove to you that I'm a man. Look!"

Before anyone could imagine what the little rascal was thinking he grabbed a knife that Shanks left in the counter and stabbed himself right below his left eye shocking everyone.

"Ouch! It hurts~!" the shout from the little one was signal that brought everyone back to reality as Shanks was screaming "Wah, he stabbed himself!" and Makino rushed to check on him.

"Hey, are you okay Luffy?" Makino worriedly grabbed onto him trying to look at where he stabbed earlier just to see there wasn't even a trace of blood on his face.

"Shishishi, knives can't cut me. I'm not afraid of knives or pain so let me join your crew, Shanks!" the little devil smiled happily at everyone's pale shocked face.

Everyone present had their jaws dropping looking at the little freak as he just stabbed under his eyes but nothing happened.

"You ... did you eat any strange fruit somewhere, Luffy?" Shanks looked disbelieving at the smiling boy in front of him.

"Yeah, got one as a gift from my dad." the boy was laughing at the shocked face his pirate friend had.

It was at that moment that Lucky Roo remembered something and opened his mouth.

"Hey, captain. Something is not right. Even if he ate a Logia type Devil Fruit isn't that knife made of sea stone?" at Lucky Roo's words everybody froze once again and immediately looked at where Luffy was.

The boy was still smiling but sweat was rolling down his face.

"You liar! You were actually cut by the knife!" Shanks screamed at the top of his lungs as he saw that the boy was fighting the tears on his eyes and this time a thin line of blood could be seen.

* * *

"Dahahaha~ Let's drink and celebrate the idiocy of Luffy and our awesomeness!" Shanks shout echoed inside the bar as the shout of his crew in response made echoed the whole village.

"Idiot Shanks, It really didn't hurt at all and it is NOT hurting now either." Luffy was seating sulking at the corner while there were still some tears left in his eyes that he was fighting to not let them fall.

"Dahahaha~ Okay hammer boy. Here another cup of juice." Shanks gave Luffy another cup of juice as kept sulking the entire time after getting his wound treated.

"Dahahaha~ Still a kid and now a hammer too." at Shanks mocking words the little one lost his patience and run away from him to Makino.

"Makino~ Shanks keeps making fun of me. Don't serve him any more booze." Luffy tried acting cute to Makino as if trying to get back at Shanks which actually works as the woman glared fiercely at the pirate captain.

Seeing that his plan worked he got back to his seat and was grinning at Shanks "Take me on an adventure too, I want to be a pirate."

"Impossible. If you can't even swim how are you going to be a pirate and the most important thing is that you are too young." Shanks was still laughing at the boy that acted cute just a few seconds ago and was now asking to be taken into a pirate ship to become a pirate "Wait another 10 years and I'll bring you."

"Wah~ too long. I can't wait that long to go on an adventure and become a pirate. If you won't take me then I will go by myself." Luffy stood on the stool he was sitting while glaring at the red headed captain in front of him "My pistol punches are ready to take down any enemy that appears in front of me!" the boy was cutely rotating his arms as if preparing for a grand fight.

"Pft~your what arms? Dahahaha~" the pirate could hold his laugh at the boy's words as he clutched his sides while laughing non-stop "Try not to kill any fly with you bazooka punch. Dahahaha~"

"It's pistol not bazooka!" Luffy was fuming at his friend making fun of him "Shanks you idiot pirate!" and madly dashed out of the bar.

A wet cloth hit the laughing Shanks square in the face "And you call yourself a grown man." at Makino's words Shanks was left speechless while his crew was making a ruckus mocking their captain for being even more childish than a 7 years old kid.

It was not even 10 minutes after the commotion and a man came running and screaming.

"Big problem, Makino!" at the man's shout the whole bar quieted to listen to what the man had to say "Luffy got on a boat and went into the sea though we tried to make him come back he keeps saying that he is going to sail as a pirate and is leaving."

As the man detailed the scene the face of all the pirates blanked as they didn't think that when the boy said he couldn't wait it meant that he really couldn't wait and rushing one after the other all of them rushed to the port from where the little boy left.

"Hey, Luffy. Come back here! It is still too early for you to become a pirate!" Shanks was the first to get to the port and saw the boy already a few dozen meters away from the port on a small boat.

Though what happened next made everyone feel chill run down their spines as a giant sea monster appeared behind the boy preparing to attack him.

"Get away from there Luffy!" Makino shouted louder than she ever before but even before her words left her mouth a red streak of light already rushed to the boy.

Just as the Lord of the Coast made its first attack it smashed the small boat to bits though it didn't seem to have caught its desired pray as it surfaced once again looking around a little confused as to how it could have missed such target.

Though it didn't take long to notice why it had missed the target as a red headed man could be seem on the water protecting its target.

Without waiting for another second after seeing one more pray in the water the lord rushed after them just to be stopped by an incredible pressure brought forth by the red headed captain's gaze "Get Lost." as the man's words reached the lord's _ears_ as if understanding the man it submerged as fast as it could and fled the scene.

"Are you okay, Luffy?" Shanks put on a smile on his face and looked down at the boy on his arms "Come on, boys don't cry." the little one was crying his eyes out.

"Was it that scary?" the captain kept warmly looking at the crying boy that just shook his head from side to side "Then why are you crying?"

Finally lifting his head the boy was still crying while looking at the pirate " But ... Shanks ...! Your arm!"

"An arm is but a small price for a life, Luffy."

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Even if I want to write a story with a dark and less naive Luffy there is no way I can make a 7 years old look dark without making him look like a potential psychopath.

I know that the scene with the mountain bandits is important and Shanks losing an arm in the following scene is important as well but I just can't bother to make those minor characters play a big role.

Next chapter will probably be something related to the oncoming war since it would take too long to finish the crew part on the East Blue before updating on the war and I'll be following the manga so don't expect anime-only arcs appearing).

And, as always I did the checked for spelling/grammar errors but might have missed some so pm/review and I'll fix it.

BTW, I don't want to beg for reviews but it would be nice to have some feedback about the story(i know it just began) and my writing style as sometimes it can get boring(yeah, i'm not an entertaining writer 100% of the time).


	4. War Prelude I

**DICLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.**

* * *

Present Time

As soon as the news of Straw hat Luffy being capture by the navy was announced, the newspapers around the world released a special edition with Luffy's wanted poster on its front page announcing that the Marine HQ had captured the infamous pirate know for being the eye of the hurricane on all the big events happened since the Paramount War which ended with Whitebeard's death and signaled the beginning of a new era for pirates as the last great one from the previous fell and new _heroes_ started to rise on the waters of the New World.

Though the news were shocking it was also the target of disbelief by many as the only information released by the Navy was that they had captured the Straw hats captain but how or in which conflict they had captured him was not released, furthermore there has been no big conflict between the two forces recently that could have ended with the pirate being captured.

"So they have finally released the news of Luffy's capture." Usopp placed the newspaper that the news coo had just delivered on the table.

Around the table were Zoro and Sanji and Usopp from the Straw Hat Pirates and Bartolomeo from the Barto Club and Jewelry Bonny from the Bonny Pirates and Sai and Baby 5 from the Happo Navy as the other captains from the Straw Hat Grand Fleet were currently away making preparations and contacting people in order to rescue the captain.

"But it seems that they don't pretend to divulge much of how they captured him nor how they are expecting to do with him after capturing." Bonny picked the newspaper and quickly read in search for any useful information that the navy may have released.

"They probably won't take him to Impel Down as he already escaped from there once when he was trying to rescue Ace." Usopp said while scratching the tip of his long nose then placing his hand under his chin.

"They will probably keep him aboard some marine warship while they figure how to handle things." the one who spoke was Sai as he was the leader of the Happo Navy "Gramps told me that once one of his crew members got apprehended by the navy and the distance between Impel Down and the place he was caught was too great and so they kept him aboard a warship and kept him in constant movement to avoid being tracked."

"Do you really think that they would keep someone like Luffy aboard a ship?" Sanji was musing over the idea spoke

"I think so too. When I was part of the Donquixote Family and we handed some pirates to the navy in exchange for keeping the warlord title, they would sometimes just keep the prisoners inside the ship until dropping them on Impel Down or on the execution platform." this time it was Baby 5 who supported the idea from her husband.

"If this is indeed what they are planning on doing then the only choice we have is to separate our forces to look for any warship with a different aura around it to try and find Luffy." Sanji said while looking at the map on the areas around them that Nami had draw until now "The problem is just that the area is too big to seach."

At this moment, Nami entered the room where they were discussing what course of action they would take.

Nami got near the maps that were on the table "Luffy's speed aside, they couldn't be anywhere less then 70 km from us or else someone would have noticed as we had a 50km perimeter watch out on the fleet but considering that the distancing also couldn't be too far to make negotiations possible." separating a few maps from the others she finally set 4 maps aside.

"These are the only possible locations as the mid point between our location and these islands is somewhere between 70km and 270km and if the negotiations failed we would certainly launch a counter-attack and only these four islands have the sufficient space to prepare an ambush with warships." looking at the four maps separated by the navigator from the Straw hats the other captains looked at each of the maps.

While Nami was explaining the choosen locations each of the captains pulled a map near them while saying "I'll be taking care of looking at this area." and only one map was left but as Zoro made to grab it he was stopped by a voice from a man that just arrived.

"Zoro-ya, leave that place for me." the captain of the Heart Pirates arrived just as the moment that Nami was explaining "It seems I still have the chance to repay my debt to him."

"How did you know about what happened?" Nami asked in surprise at the appearance of their once allied pirate captain.

"I called him." Zoro who was silent the whole time finally opened his mouth "Every bit of power that we can call upon is an increase in rescuing Luffy."

Nami nodded clearly agreeing with the first mate's decision "It has been three days since Luffy got into their hands so they can't be too far away." Nami draw on each map a huge circle "Considering they had the best for sailing and didn't stop at night this is the maximum distance they could have gone ..." now drawing a small circle "... and if our luck was good then this is the distance they covered from encountering every obstacle possible while sailing."

Though the second circle was smaller it was still a huge area to cover.

* * *

"You really have some reliable friends, don't you?" Isshou was sitting on the same place as the day Luffy was caught though the difference was that today he was eating somen.

And as if the most obvious thing in the world, at the other side of the cell was Luffy eating and sitting in the same place as well "Shishishi, even though I left a message for them not to do anything."

"You don't believe that they would just sit by and see their captain and friend die in the hands of the Navy, do you?" Isshou was slurping his noodles while chatting with the man mirroring his moves.

"I wish they did though." Luffy placed the bowl in his hands on the tray looking up "I'll of course be happy if I'm able to see them again and go on an adventure but ..." his eyes were looking but not seeing what was in front of him but what was in his past "... I don't wish to see something like that again."

"Similar situations don't always have the same ending." Isshou's words carried his wisdow of someone who has lived a long life.

"Shishishi~ you really are one funny man, Admiral Fujitora." Luffy was laughing out loud at the man's words "You are the first marine official I know that would say consolation words to a pirate."

"Kahahaha~" Isshou also couldn't keep his laugh and broke "We are enemies on the battlefield because of our sides but if I had to pick a side right now I probably would be on this side of the bars."

"That is a dangerous thing to say, you know." Luffy said while glancing on the only door leading to the prison area of the ship.

"I'm on this side because to accomplish what I desire I need the status and authority this position provides and they know it as well so it is in no way dangerous." Isshou simply ignored the soldier on the other side of the door "Furthermore they also need me to be on the front lines."

As the two were talking a marine soldier entered and started whispering something to Fujitora who creased his brows while hearing the marine words.

"*sigh*" Fujitora signaled for the man to leave and straightened his back preparing to stand up "I knew it would be a headache to proceed as the Fleet Admiral planned"

"Just as I feared..." The admiral tapped his sword on the floor but as he prepared to leave he turned his head back while sighing again "... your comrades are not sitting idle and are already moving in search of you."

* * *

 **Author Notes:**

First- Hello everyone!

Second- Thanks for the reviews, I do read them and every review is welcome(though I prefer refraining from hate reviews but if you thing they are need then post it)

Third- Just like my first works on FanFiction I'm not going to reply for the reviews on the Review corner since I wish for that to be exclusive for you readers BUT if you feel like asking something go on and I'll try to reply on my notes as I publish the chapters.

Fourth- Writing a chapter not related to the main story line sure takes more time and I'm creating a poll on my profile regarding the releases of this story. It will be more detailed on my profile what the poll is about.

Lastly- Chapters written/created by me are going to be a little bit short or else I will end the story before 3D2Y arc


	5. Beginning of a Journey

**Author Notes:**

Haha! Author Notes on the beginning of the chapter. I bet you didn't expect it BUT there is a reason for this **(CHECK MY PROFILE'S** **POLL)**.

I'll be following the manga sequence of happening HOWEVER this chapter will have something that has only on the anime and that is Nami's first appearance which only happens after Zoro joined Luffy following the manga timeline.

"" = speech and [] = thought

As it can be seen, english is in not my mother tongue and there is bound to be some(lots) errors and I apologize for that. After finishing the chapters I always read everything at least twice while proofreading but a few errors may go unnoticed(mainly grammar). **For the reviewer:** I also thought of getting someone to be a beta reader for me but I don't have an schedule as I write only as a hobby but if anyone is up for the task please pm me and we can talk about it.

I will NOT be using -san -sama -kun etc ... I barely know my own mother tongue and am already trying to write in english as a non-native and if I mix anymore there will be even more errors in the story

PS1: as a JP manga there is a ton of JP references so I won't be translating them e.g. Ama no Murakamo-Borsalino's light sword

PS2: I don't know why but reviews made as guest are not showing. I'm not deleting them so feel free to keep review since I still get them on my email.

 **Check the poll on my profile and please vote** since it is important for the continuation of this fiction.

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

 **DICLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.**

* * *

After Shanks saved Luffy from the Lord of The Coast and receive treatment a few days have already passed and ... it was finally time for the pirates to depart.

During all the time the pirates stayed on the island Luffy would pester them to bring him to an adventure saying that he wanted to become a pirate ... except for this last few days after that little incident and everyone just assumed it that the shock the boy receive from the attack of the sea king had traumatized him and he gave up on the idea of becoming a pirate.

And finally the day came, Shanks crew was loading the ship with supplies and preparing to set sail and unexpectedly everybody from the village was at the port to say goodbyes.

"Dahaha~" Shanks was wearing a coat over his shoulders standing near Makino and Luffy "Thank you everyone for seeing us off. We are also gonna miss you!".

"Who is going to miss you, pirate?!" Woop Slap grumbled as he got near Makino that was giggling.

"Hey, Luffy." Shanks lowered and looked at Luffy in the eyes "It's good that you gave up on being a pirate since it is too dangerous so you should stay on land as it is safer." though the pirate was laughing it could be felt in his voice that he felt something wasn't right.

Though what happened next shocked everyone.

"What are you talking about, Shanks?" Luffy tilted his head looking at the pirate captain wondering what he was talking about.

"But you stopped asking to be taken on the ship, so ... we thought maybe you gave up." Shanks was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

"Shishishi~ I still want to go with you but I won't force you to take me anymore." Luffy smiled looking at Shanks "I'll become a pirate by myself."

"Dahaha~" Shanks laughed to his heart content "A hammer boy can't become a pirate and you don't have what it takes to become one."

"I do!" the boy yelled at the pirate captain making fun of him "I'll find myself a crew stronger then yours and then find the world's biggest treasure!" pausing to catch some breath he shouted from the top of his lungs "And I'll become the King of Pirates!"

The whole crew that was finishing the preparations for departure stopped at the boy's shout and looked at him.

"Oh... So you want to be bigger than us, huh?" Shanks looked at the boy in front of him with interest in his eyes "Then ..." the red headed pirate took his hat off "...this hat" calmly placing it at the top of the boy's head "is my gift to you. This is my treasure, you know."

Large tear drops were falling from the boy's face under the hat.

"When you become a great pirate. Come and return it to me." Shanks went on board of his ship after parting with the boy.

Goodbyes were unnecessary as a promise to see each other again was stronger.

"I'll be waiting for you, Luffy!" as the ship left the port, the silhouette of the captain of the Red Head Pirates could be seen on the distance.

* * *

"Shesh ... who would have thought that he really would have leave." Makino was at the port watching the sea with Woop Slap at her side "We're going to miss him."

"He will just ruin the town's reputation." Woop Slap at her side complained while looking at the boy on a small ship.

Just as the small boat was a few dozen meters away from the port the sea king inhabitant of the coast appeared.

"Yo, Lord. It would be a shame if I left without saying my goodbyes to you, too." Luffy was grinning while seated on the boat.

As the Lord of the Coast prepared to attack the boy calmly stood up on the boat.

"Compress" clenching his fist in front of his face the boy looked at the sea king in front of him and slowly opened his had while calmly saying "Heavy Impact." a massive block of compressed air shot at the sea king attacking him which send the monster flying unconscious.

"Shishishi~ I'm not your lunch anymore." Luffy grinned as the sea king was floating on the sea as the boat sailed by its side "Stupid overgrown fish."

With a wave of his hands to the people at the port Luffy finally started his journey to become the Pirate King.

After a few hours sailing, it was already impossible to see land or anything else aside from the blue sea.

"Shishishi~ It was such a beautiful day to set sail that I ended up napping." Luffy tossed a piece of meat into his mouth while sitting at the small boat looking at his surrounds "Who would have thought that I would be caught in this huge ass whirlpool. How careless of me."

Luffy stood up trying to look around to see if there was any land or other ships near.

"*sigh*I don't know to which side there is land or a ship." as the teen was standing, the boat was getting near the center of the whirlpool "It will be bad if I run out of gas while flying and fall into the sea as I can't swim."

Just as his small boat was about to be wrecked a passenger ship appeared at the distance.

"Heave ho!" with a big jump he launched himself in the direction of the ship.

"Shishishi~ Today has to be my luck day." as he landed on the ship he could smell a delicious fragrance coming from the hall "It will be bad if someone finds me."

After sneaking around the quarters of the passengers he finally found one that had clothes fitting his body.

"Talk about a bad taste." it was a tuxedo-like clothes with a lot of frills "Gotta make do with this." he quickly wore the clothes and made his way to the hall "Time to stuff myself, shishishi~".

Arriving at the hall there were various waiters and waitress carrying a myriad of food to the tables while there was classic music playing.

A typical noblemen party atmosphere.

As he neared a table by the window he noticed a woman,though upon a closer look she probably was the same age as him, staring outside.

"Miss, may I have the honor of this dance?" just as he started to wolf down the food while looking at the woman by the window, another man approached her clearly interested on the woman that just signaled with her head and extended her hand in response to the man' request.

"Shishishi~ Interesting." Seeing the scene in front of his eyes, Luffy was at a loss whether to laugh or cry "Maybe I should stick around a little after eating." his initial plan was to eat and take one of the emergency boats of the ship to continue his journey but his curiosity was picked when he saw this scene [She just stole his wallet with one hand while diverting his attention with the other. It doesn't seem to be her first time.]

As the food prepared for the banquet was coming to an end, to sound of cannons being fired could be heard and a few seconds later the ship started to rock from side to side as big splashes flew.

A crew member of the passenger ship rushed inside the hall in search of the captain of the ship "Captain! Pirates are attacking!"

At the man's words, every passenger on the ship panicked as encountering pirates was one of the most troublesome things that could happen on the sea.

"Shishishi~" Luffy was grinning while sitting with a piece of meat on his plate and looking at the expression of everyone around him "its time to leave then."

Just as he wolfed down the meat and stood up to leave a certain woman whom caught his interest earlier entered his sight again, though contrary to everybody else who was panicking she actually didn't show any trace of fear nor panic on her face which further increased his earlier interest [Guess I should watch a little more.]

Luffy sneaked outside and climbed the main mast of the ship to watch the show while throwing away the clothes he _borrowed_ earlier "Finally free from these clothes."

"Shishishi~" just as he got at the top, the enemy pirate ship started to board the passenger ship but what caught his attention this time was actually someone that was still on the pirate ship "how could there be such a spineless pirate. Oooh~ now he is flying shishishi." as he said the little wimp was sent flying by the woman on the other ship.

[She is probably the captain as everyone seems to follow her orders.] Luffy was watching attentively as the pirates were making a ruckus bellow "Ooh~ What is she up to now?" as he was watching all the commotion as if it was a show he saw the woman that was staring at the sea moments before but this time she was actually clothed as if she was a pirate and sneakily infiltrated the pirate ship.

"Boo Boo~ Seems that she was caught already." as he was watching, as soon as she got on the pirate ship she was faced with one of the pirates that had yet to board the passenger ship but as soon as the pirate recognized that she was one of them he was met with a kick on his treasure "Ouch~ that must have hurt."

As he was at the highest point of the ship there was nothing that he couldn't see around them and while surveying his surroundings he noticed that at the opposite side from where the pirates were boarding, three marine ships were still far in the horizon "Those marine ships will soon notice the commotion and will probably come. I should begin preparing to leave." as he notice the marine ships on the horizon he jumped down from the mast and went inside the ship to grab some supplies for his travel.

As he got near to where the kitchen and storage were supposed to be he heard voices of the pirates.

"Hey you coward. Are you hiding and doing nothing again?"

"Not at all, I was just pushing this barrel of sake and since it is heavy I ..." before he could finish his sentence another voice interjected.

"Since we are thirsty we will help you lighten this barrel."

"But, but, but if Captain Alvida finds out about she will ..." the cowardly voice tried to raise a complain but was soon suppressed by another voice.

"She won't find if you just shut up. Right Coby?"

"Yeah, that's true ... hahaha" the cowardly voice from Coby was clear that he had given up the idea of any resistance.

"Hey, how about leaving that barrel for me?" another voice interrupted the men as they were about to open the barrel to drink and as they turned around a youth on with a red shirt and blue shorts and a black overcoat with a straw hat on his head was smiling at them.

"Who are you bastard?" the pirate that was about to smash the barrel roared at the youth that just entered the kitchen.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I want that barrel."

"Hmph, why don't you just go to hell then." the three unsheathed their swords and swung at him.

Coby closed his eyes in fear of the scene that was going to be played in front of him but the scream that he was expecting never came and instead the sounds was actually front the voices he knew well.

"Ah! Monster!" the idiot trio cried at the same time as their swords just passed through the body of the youth standing in front of them.

"Hey, you are going to hurt my feelings speaking like that shishishi~" Luffy just laughed as he made his way inside the storage room but even before he entered the trio who attacked him had already run away.

Coby who had his eyes closed the whole time and didn't know what happened just stared at Luffy's back going inside the storage room.

After a few seconds, the storage room door opened and Coby was there with a worried look "Please run away immediately, Mr Luffy. The men from before will probably have gone to call for reinforcement."

"Shishishi~" Luffy just looked at the trembling Coby who entered but resumed preparing his supplies [Even though he is shaking in fear he still remembered to come and warn me.]

"Hey, I'm talking to you. It will really be bad if Alvida catch you." despite shaking more than jelly Coby still tried to make Luffy leave.

"Hey coward." Luffy turned around finally looking at Coby "What is your name?"

"My name is Coby." Coby entered after checking outside the door for anyone coming and entered after not seeing any movement outside.

"Why are you a pirate even though you are so scared?" at Luffy's blunt words Coby froze and lowered his head.

"I ... boarded the wrong ship." Coby's words were barely heard "I wanted to join the marine ... but ended up in Alvida's ship."

"Shishishi~" Luffy was holding his sides while rolling on the ground laughing "How could someone mistake a pirate ship with a marine ship."

After laughing some more he finally stopped and sat on a box at the corner picking an apple "Why don't you leave her ship then? You can just leave and join the navy."

"You are right." Coby was still looking at the floor as he mumbled through his words "Completely right ... If only I was brave I could even drift in the ocean on a barrel." then he lifted his head to face Luffy "But you know, I still dream to become a marine. What about you, . Why are you at the sea?"

"I'm going to become the Pirate King" Luffy replied nonchalantly while grinning.

"Shishishi~" Luffy faced Coby who was frozen with his mouth wide open [Maybe ...] "Hey, do you know how to navigate?"

Coby finally came back as Luffy asked him "What did you say you will become?"

"Pirate King." the straw hat boy finally stood up and threw the bag of food on his back "So ... do you know how to navigate?"

"Ah ... yes" the coward was still a little out of it "Then, does that mean that you are a pirate too?"

"Yeah."

"What about your crew?"

"None yet. I'm looking for one now."

And the little cowardly boy froze again for a few seconds and then

"The Pirate King is someone who has everything, wealth and fame and power all united within one." catching a few breaths he continued "Meaning that you are going after One Piece?"

"Yeah"

"Impossible Impossible Impossible Impossible Impossible Absolutely Impossible! It is impossible to stand at the top of this great pirate er..."

A descending fist interrupted the annoying little wimp as he got stuck on the words impossible

"Why did you hit me?"

"Felt like it." Luffy took his hat and brought it in front of him "It doesn't matter whether it is impossible or not. I'm just doing what I want."

"I decided to become the Pirate King so I don't care if I die fighting for it." placing his straw hat back on his head he just looked at Coby "I can't take you out of this ship if you agree to navigate until the next port."

* * *

At the pirate ship

Bags and chests of treasure and jewelry kept coming from the passenger ship while few of the pirates kept throwing them inside but it was a shame that they didn't know that a little thieving cat was inside the ship and every single berry that was throw inside would end up in the thief's bag.

[I guess this is all the treasure they had in the ship. Talk about a bunch of poor pirates.] the orange headed thief already had a bag as big as her filled to the max [I better prepare my escape, it seems they already took all the money and treasures from the passengers and should be coming back soon.] she agilely dragged the back while making sure that she was out of sight from everybody else [I wasn't planning on stealing everything from the passenger ship but since the pirates took it all than it is fair that I take it from them].

As she got near to the area where the emergency boats were stored a whisper reached her ears "Prepare another boat while you escape."

"Who is there?!" Nami jumped and pulled a staff while looking around but couldn't see any signs of someone being nearby.

* * *

At the passenger ship the pirates had already surrounded everyone on the ship be it passengers or crew and made them stand on deck.

As Luffy appeared from a door that lead inside the ship, all the pirates were already on guard waiting for him to come out.

"Oh~ what a nice welcome." the straw hat wearing boy had a huge bag on his back and was dragging Coby by the colar with one hand.

"You are not Pirate Hunter Zoro" a fat _lady_ was standing at the front of everyone with an iron club in hand "Are you a bounty hunter after my head?"

"Bounty Hunter? Of course not, I'm a pirate." Luffy proudly stuck his chest out while looking at her

"And where is your crew?"

"None yet. I'm looking for one."

"Then why don't you join me and become part of my crew? I can see that you have enough power" Alvida sensed that the youth in front of her wasn't normal for his demeanor in front of her.

"Thanks for the offer but no, fat lady." at the youth's words every pirate behind the woman froze while looking at their captain.

[Death, he has no other fate now] was the only thought on their minds at the moment.

"You stinky brat! I'll show you who is the fat lady!" Alvida lunged at the straw hat boy in front of her while swinging her iron bludgeon at him.

"Shishishi~" Luffy only laughed at the sight of the woman rushing at him without sparing another thought [I expected more since she called herself a pirate captain but ... I guess Shanks was different after all.]

[Frozen from fear after speaking.] Alvida smirked as the youth in front of her didn't seem to have any intention of moving [And I thought you actually were something from all the alarm those idiots raised]

As her bludgeon swung past the boy her face that was smirking seconds before now was pale with a frightened look "You! You are a Devil Fruit eater!"

"I thought there were only legends of the sea ..." Alvida immediately jumped back as she couldn't believe her eyes while seeing something that she deemed impossible to exist present right in front of her "to think that I would actually see someone who eat a treasure of the sea."

[I probably won't be able to win a one on one with him but I don't believe that we can't get him with numbers] Alvida looked at her crew that had terrified looks as they heard the words Devil Fruit Eater "Go and get him! Just because he ate a Devil Fruit doesn't mean that he is invincible. He can't possible win against our numbers!"

As the captain shouted some regained their confidence and raised their swords and clubs preparing to attack the boy in front of them.

"Shishishi~ You guys should have chosen a better captain to follow." Luffy just grinned at the sight of the pirates preparing to attack.

"Compress" Luffy's put his two hands together as if praying while looking at the pirates rushing at him then opened his arms wide as a small vortex could be seen in front of him "Air Cannon." a violent gush of air collided with the incoming pirates sending them flying away like a puppet that had its strings cut.

"Stop right there!" a sort of feminine voice rang on the deck catching the attention of everyone.

"If you keep on resisting I'll kill her." Alvida was holding a little girl from the passenger ship at gun point while looking at Luffy.

"You do remember that I'm also a pirate, right? Why would I care for a life that I have no relations to?" big fat drops of cold sweat ran down Alvida's back as she looked at the teen in front of her [This time I miscalculated. I should have run after taking the money.]

"Stop right there you fat rude ugly old hag!" a high pitched voice from the sidelines disrupted the scene redirection all the attention to the speaker.

To Alvida's surprise, all the insults came from the cowardly little wimp that was the chores boy on her ship "Coby! you little wimp dare to raise your voice to me?!"

The pirate captain stared at the boy trembling while trying to keep eye contact with the pirate "Shut up! Just you wait!" the little coward from before seemed to have found his courage somewhere as he maintained his line of sight while speaking "I'll become a marine and arrest you!"

"Shishishi~ Finally you said something worthy." Luffy grinned at the sudden gain of courage that the little one had

The gun that was previously pointing at the girl was now aimed at Coby.

*Bang* at the moment the gun was fired Coby was already bracing himself for the pain accompanied by the gun wound to be but to his surprise the pain never came.

"Shishishi~ As soon as you said you words you go back to being a wimp, shishishi~" when Coby opened his eyes all he could see was Luffy's back protecting him.

"What? How is that possible? What happened to the bullet?" Alvida was staring at the scene in front of her refusing to believe what happened.

"Shishishi~ guns are useless." Luffy picked the bullet that was floating in front of his chest while looking at Alvida "All I need to do is increase the air resistance and they lose all their power."

"It seems our time is up already." Luffy saw the marine ships at the distance had already notice all the commotion and were making their way here "Compress. Heavy Impact." Luffy clenched and opened his fist as a mass of compressed air sent Alvida flying "Coby! We are running!" Luffy quickly with one hand grabbed the huge bag of food and with the other grabbed Coby by the neck and pulled him to the side where the pirate ship was and jumped in the space between them.

"Waaah! We are going to fall in the water, Mr Luffy!" Coby was screaming and grabbing onto Luffy's arm for dear life.

But instead of the splash in the water what he felt was actually his face hitting hard wood.

As the two jumped from the deck of the passenger ship the height was actually quite high which caused a huge wave on the impact almost causing the boat to be wrecked and the other boat at its side to almost capsize.

"What are you doing?" an angry voice came from the boat at the side.

"Shishishi~ Thanks for preparing the boat." Luffy just smiled and thanked the person on the other boat

[This voice ... its the same that asked for me to prepare the boat.] Nami looked at the straw hat wearing youth who thanked her paying close attention [It doesn't seem he has much and from the sound when they fell there is nothing valuable in that bag.] as soon as she deemed them as poor she didn't waste more time with them "I prepared it as you asked. From here on we are going our ways."

"Shishishi~" Luffy laughed as she didn't want to waste more time as she probably had already seen the navy nearing too "May we meet again. Next time under better conditions I hope"


	6. First Mate and First Member

**Author Notes:**

First of all, I'm sorry for the long wait for another chapter.

Truthfully speaking this chapter was finished awhile back but I delayed its release because I was looking for a Beta Reader(I'm still looking.) and while waiting for a reply rl started hitting hard(College and work mainly) and ... I'm currently working on a few original stories drafts(for those interested I'll probably be posting them on fictionpress).

Expect more chapters in the following days as I'm almost done reviewing them.

All chapters will follow the manga storyline and there will be some(lots of) differences with the anime. For special chapters like the previous one I'll notify on the notes.

Just a reminder: Luffy wears a black overcoat in addition to his usual clothes from the manga/anime.

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.**

* * *

"Hey, Coby! How long until we arrive? All of our food is already gone and we still can't see any island. Are you sure that you know how to navigate?" Luffy was sitting at the front of the small boat while looking at the sky absentminded.

"And whose fault is it that we are almost out of food?" Coby mumbled his words in the lowest voice while looking at the compass in front of him to make sure that they were in the correct route "Mr Luffy? Are you sure that we can keep on heading to the marine's base? Aren't you a pirate?"

"I already told you to drop the Mr. I'm a pirate and what use is there for being polite and speaking formal?" Luffy lowered his head to look at Coby who was navigating "As for the destination you can just keep going to the marine base."

"Okay Mr Luf-" before Coby could finish his words Luffy's fist had met the little wimp forehead "No Mr, didn't I say it already?"

"But if you are going to be the Pirate King then you will need a strong crew to go to the Grand Line. Forget the Grand Line but with you alone even going anywhere in the East Blue will be difficult." Coby was rubbing his head where he was smacked while looking at Luffy

"Shishishi~I know that there are a lot of strong people everywhere and that is why I'm going to the marine base." Luffy grinned while looking at the person in front of him "Moreover, my first crew member is being held in the marine base where we are heading to."

"Being held at the marine base?" Coby thought for a little about the news related to the place he was heading to but the only news of someone worth noting that was being held there was "You ... you don't mean him, do you? The pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro."

"Yeah, him." the captain responded while still absentmindedly looking at the sky.

"You should really stop with the idea of recruiting him." Coby was frightened just from thinking about the man in question "He is a bloodthirsty demon that goes around the seas hunting fugitives and he is definitely a bad person. He is a monster in human form so let's drop the idea of recruiting him."

"Shishishi~I still haven't really decided if I should really recruit him but if he is a good person then ..." the straw hat boy laughed while looking at the panicked little wimp.

"Of course he is a bad person. He was arrested by the marine." Coby yelled interrupting the pirate's thoughts

The two kept talking about random things until Luffy suddenly stood up and looked at Coby "Hurry and hold onto something Coby, I can already see the base."

"Why should I hold onto somethi...?" Coby complied to the words of the pirate anyway while asking but before he could finish his question a sudden gust of wind blew on the sails of the small boat making it rocked in direction of the port.

* * *

Luffy and Coby were inside of one of the bars that had a good atmosphere that reminded him of Makino's place eating and talking.

"What exactly happened back there? The boat suddenly bolted to the shore as if it became a merman and started swimming instead of sailing like a normal boat." Coby was eating but still had a little of cold sweat running down his back from the shock earlier when arriving at the marine base.

"Shishishi~ I just gave a little push on the sails." Luffy was stuffing his cheeks like a hamster while laughing silly "I also didn't expect that the boat would actually almost fly with that little wind."

"By the way, Luffy." Coby lowered his voice and got closer to Luffy while trying to whisper so only the one in front of him could her "Is it okay for you to be walking like this in a marine base? I mean ... you are a pirate , aren't you?"

"Shishishi~ Food first and adventure second." Luffy stuffed the last plate of food in his mouth

[So a pirate walking into a marine base is just adventure for him, huh. Worse of all is that food comes first in his priority]*sigh* Coby didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this moment as the Pirate King to be revealed his priorities.

"Well, we part ways here. You do your best to become a great marine." Luffy leaned on the chair while chatting with Coby after eating almost all the food in the bar.

"You too do your best to become The Pirate King." Coby began to cry as he was departing with the man the brought him away from Alvida's ship "Even though we are going to be enemies." the little wimp was about to turn into a waterfall of tears.

"Shishishi~ I guess I should go looking for my first crew then. I wonder where are they keeping Zoro away?" at Luffy words the whole bar froze and some even fell of their chairs at the mention of the name of the pirate hunter.

Luffy and Coby stared at each other while looking at the reaction of the people inside the bar.

[I told you he was a bad guy. You only mentioned his name and look at the reaction of the people around us] Coby thought to himself while looking around when he suddenly remembered seeing a poster of the marine base on their way to look for a bar.

"I remember seeing a notice on the way saying that he is being kept at the marine base that is under Lt Morgan." as if in replay the same scene of when Zoro's name was mentioned the same happened when the name of the marine lieutenant was said.

"Shishishi~ What a funny town." Luffy was laughing until his sides hurt while looking around the restaurant [There is definitely something interesting going on this town]

"Zoro! Lt Morgan!Zoro! Lt Morgan!..." Luffy kept yelling at the top of his lungs while watching the reaction of the surrounding and laughing so much that tears were falling down his eyes.

"Give it a rest already! Just leave!" the crowd couldn't keep up with the youth any longer as they practically kicked him out of the bar without even waiting for the owner to ask for the money from the duo.

After being thrown outside the bar they began walking together again while Luffy was still laughing and at the distance there could be heard the conversation within the bar

"Don't worry owner we will cover what that brat ate. We just couldn't take it anymore!" a voice from one of the men that kicked Luffy and Coby could be heard on the street

"Okay, then here is the bill." the owner presented the paper for the customers while looking a little awkward

After a few seconds of silence suddenly a reverberating yell came from the bar "How the hell someone eat 15.000,00 Belly worth of meat on a single meal?"

"Shishishi~ The people at the restaurant are so funny. I'll definitely come again." Luffy was laughing until now and after he heard the scream of the man he began to laugh even harder.

"This is no laughing matter Luffy but I have a bad feeling about this. I can understand their reaction to Zoro's name but Lt Morgan is a marine official in charge of their security." Coby that was following Luffy was in deep thought.

"Maybe he did something bad. Well, not that it matters so let's just go to the marine base already." Luffy continued walking in the direction of the base while talking with Coby that was insisting that a marine official couldn't have done anything bad to be compared to an outlaw.

"Wow~! What an UGLY building." Luffy's words and Coby's thoughts were the same and the only difference was that one of them said it out loud.

"Anyway you should just enter through the front door and I'll go looking for Zoro." Luffy with a single jump reached the high wall and began looking around with total disregard for the fact that it was a marine base and that he was a pirate.

"There is no way that you are going to find him like this. He is probably in some secret cell inside the base and ..." before could could finish his sentence Luffy already jumped down from the wall and was smiling "Shishishi~ Found him."

Just as he got on the floor he began walking again as if nothing happened and he had just climbed the neighbor's fence. Luffy would jump from time to time to make sure that he could still see the person then he finally stopped in one point and jumped and sat on top of the wall.

"So he is Zoro, huh?" Luffy said while looking at the man tied to a wooden cross in a spacious yard "Hmm~ Those ropes seem pretty easy to break." he sized Zoro from top to bottom [He should also be able to escape easily, at least he should have been able to when he still had the energy to.]

After a while Coby finally climbed the wall enough to grab at the top just to hear Luffy's words and almost fall "Stop joking around Luffy. If you free him he will probably slaughter the whole town and kill even you." Coby was panicking at the words of the youth with the straw hat said.

"Hey,you." the voice from the man tied interrupted their conversation "Could you come over and untie me? I've already been here for 9 days and am already tired of this."

"Ooh~ shishishi~ look at that Coby." Luffy laughed while pointing at Zoro "He is smiling shishishi~"

"If you free me I'll be sure to repay you. I can even hunt some bounties and give them to you." Zoro said while looking Luffy in the eyes but the voice heard next was not from the straw hat youth.

"Don't be deceived by him Luffy! Don't be tricked by his words because if you free him he is going to kill us and escape." Coby was beyond frightened himself hearing the two's conversation.

"Shishishi~ He won't kill me." Luffy laughed while looking straight at Zoro's eyes " Because ... I'm strong."

"Ah?" Luffy's words seemed to have brushed Zoro's fur on the wrong direction as he glared at Luffy that was seating silly on top of the wall though their staring contest was interrupted when Zoro looked a little to the right of where Coby was as a little head popped out.

At the moment there were 3 people on top of the wall with Luffy seated on the wall with Coby hanging with only his head above the wall on his right and further on the right the head of a little girl popped now.

She just made a gesture for them to shush and jumped inside the base as the walls inside were actually shorter than the outside enough for a child to climb and jump down without getting hurt and as she landed on the ground she rushed to Zoro.

"Do you want to die or something? Get lost already little brat." Zoro glared at the little one in front of him.

"Luffy hurry and go save the girl or else he will kill her." Coby was yelling while looking at the little girl standing in front of Zoro.

"Do it yourself." Luffy just kept watching as he silenced Coby.

"Uhm Brother, It's my first time but I made some rice balls to you. You haven't eaten in a long time right?" the little girl removed a packet from her back and opened it in front of Zoro as she looked at him with shining eyes as if looking at a hero.

"Get lost already. I'm not hungry!" Zoro yelled at the little girl while fiercely glaring at her but it didn't seem to have much effect as he threatened "If you don't go I'll kill you!"

"Roronoa Zoro!" Before any more words could be said a loud shout came from the entrance to the yard where Zoro was tied "Don't go around bullying little kids or else I'll tell my dad!" a weirdo with a ridiculous weird mushroom hairstyle walked until he got closer to the little girl that was in front of the criminal tied "And you little girl ... can you read this?" the weirdo pointed at the board near Zoro "It says that anyone that tries to help him will have to share the same fate as him!"

[Why didn't I think of it before? While he is starving I'll eat in front of him to torture him] Helmeppo took one of the rice ball that the girl had in hand while looking at Zoro and took a bite just to immediately spit it on the ground "What the fuck is this? Why is it sweet?"

At the weirdo's shout the little girl trembled and looked at him while saying in a weak voice "I thought that if it was sweet it would be easier to eat so I added sugar instead of salt."

"Are you an idiot? Rice balls are made to be salty and not sweet!" Helmeppo grabbed the remaining rice ball on the little girl's package at threw it on the ground and began stomping on it.

After a stomping nonstop for a while he was breathing hard and looked at the marine next to him "Throw this brat outside."

The marine looked conflicted at the orders as he looked at the little girl that was crying because of the treatment her rice ball received.

"Are you defying orders?" Helmeppo glared at the mean that was hesitating to follow the orders "If you dare not follow what I said I'll tell my dad!"

At the mention of the little bastard of a youth the man could only swallow and look at the kid and as he grabbed her preparing to throw her "I'm sorry kid, I hope you don't get hurt" as soon as his words left his mouth he threw the girl over the wall.

As the girls was throw she would definitely get hurt when she landed on the ground outside.

"Coby." Luffy grabbed Coby by his collar and "Catch!" threw him in the direction to where the girl was going and it seemed that he threw Coby even easier than the marine threw the little girl.

"I didn't expect you to have such vitality to be able to endure until now." Helmeppo was looking at Zoro but didn't dare make eye contact from fear.

"I'll survive the whole month so you better keep your end of the promise." Zoro said while glaring katanas at the weirdo in front of him.

"Yeah, sure. I'll keep the promise and release you if you can survive the entire month." Helmeppo said while leaving the place as he seemed to already be bored as he didn't get the expression on Zoro's face that he was expecting.

"You still haven't left?" Zoro looked at the youth wearing a straw hat in front of him "Leave now or else that bastard will tell his dad."

"Hm~ really?" Luffy's attitude clearly showed that he didn't think much even if that idiot ran right now to tell his father "I'm looking for someone to join my pirate crew."

"Pirate? So you just gave up life and became a crook?" Zoro sneered at the word from the young man "Are you thinking of freeing and forcing me to join your pirate crew?"

"What is the problem with being a pirate? It's my dream." Luffy had a serious face as he looked at Zoro but soon smiled as he looked at the man still tied "About recruiting you I still don't know. After all everyone says that you are a bad guy."

"A bad guy, huh? To hell about what others think of me." Zoro sneered at Luffy's words that didn't seem to affect him in the slightest "I have a dream that I must achieve and I would do anything to achieve it and i don't plan on becoming a pirate moreover the bastard kid promised that if I stay here for a month he will later set me free." Zoro's eyes had a clear shine that showed his conviction "I'm not dying until I fulfill my dream!"

"Shishishi~ That seems tough." Luffy was smiling while hearing Zoro's words because even if he didn't become his companion it was interesting that there was someone else besides him that actually bet their life for their dream "I probably would die either from starvation or boredom before the end of the first week shishishi~"

"That is where I differ from you. Now just scram." Zoro lowered his head as if trying to save as much energy as he could but it didn't seem that he would have his way with the youth in front of him.

"I heard that you are a swordsman. Are you strong?" Luffy asked while staring straight into the man's eyes with a glare meaning that lying would be good.

"If I had my swords I could escape at anytime even in the condition I'm right now but that bastard son took. It is one thing I value most other than my life." Zoro didn't break the eye contact while replying "As for your question ... I'm strong!"

"Shishishi~ I see." Luffy grinned and turned around to leave but before he could even take one step to leave he heard Zoro calling for him again "Before you leave. Grab that for me." following the swordsman line of sight the only thing there was a ball of dirt that was one a rice ball.

Luffy looked at the rice ball on the floor all trampled and looked at Zoro that was staring at him "Shishishi~" Luffy casually picked the rice ball from the floor and threw it at Zoro who wolfed it down with a single bite and started coughing from all the dirt on the food [I never thought someone else would be capable of eating that aside from me. I wonder how could someone like him gained the fame of bad guy. Shishishi~]

"Shishishi~ you will end up killing yourself." Luffy was already at the top of the wall when Zoro looked at him again and as Luffy's figure disappeared at the other side of the wall only his voice could be heard "Next time I'll bring a bottle of ale."

* * *

[Hmm~ No matter how you see it that bastard son won't set him free even if he endured a whole year on that cross.] Luffy was sighing while thinking about Zoro's words about his situation while walking in the direction that Coby and the little girl should have flown earlier [Well, maybe I should try spying on him a little. I guess I could wait for a month in here without much problem.]

"Ooh~ Hey Coby!" Coby was sitting while rubbing his back and the little girl was by his sides with a worried look in her eyes "Good to see that you manage to save the girl. Did you get hurt anywhere, little one?"

"Ah... hmm... I'm already thanks to you both. Thank you." the little girl bowed to express her gratitude for saving her.

"So ... why did you go in there, little lady? You knew that would happen if you tried to help Zoro, didn't you?" Luffy asked while sitting in front of the girl

"It's because of me that big brother Zoro is there." the little girl clenched the helm of her clothes while speaking "He killed Helmeppo's dog to save me and he took all the blame and was tied in there as punishment but I know that he isn't a bad guy."

Luffy and Coby continued chatting with the little girl about the matters concerning the marine base when a commotion began in the middle of the streets near them.

"Anyone that dare raise their head will have the same ending as that idiot Roronoa Zoro." Helmeppo was parading in the middle of the streets while every inhabitant had lowered themselves and bowing to him as if reverencing a god "I just thought of something good. On his execution tomorrow I'll use his all swords to kill him in front of everybody hahahahaha~."

As Luffy heard those words he clenched his fists so hard that cracking sound could be heard and his veins were bulging from his anger and seeing this scene it was clear that the words from the bastard son had clearly crossed the bottom line of the pirate.

*Bang*

A loud sound of something colliding echoed on the silent street and before anyone could react the loud scream "AAAHHH!" could be heard coming from the previously gallantly parading Helmeppo that was now on the floor with Luffy pinning him down under his foot.

"*sigh* For a second I actually thought that maybe you would at least be man enough to keep a promise." Luffy was looking down at Helmeppo that was clutching his face were he was punched earlier "Guess I don't even need to waste time watching you." Luffy sent Helmeppo flying to the marines that were with him with a single kick.

The marines barely managed to catch Helmeppo as he was almost too fast to the point of making them fall while trying to stop him.

* * *

"Ooh~ That was fast." Zoro lifted his head to look at the person who was standing in front of him "But I don't see any ale."

"Shishishi~ I thought it would be better if you drank it after joining my crew." Luffy laughed as the swordsman remembered his words about alcohol from before.

"I already told you I'm not going to join your pir-" before Zoro could even finish his words Luffy interrupted him "I'll recover your sword and won't return it until you decide to join me."

"Hey! That is dirty! But what makes you think that I'm going to join you just because you are going to take my swords?" Luffy just looked at the marine base behind the yard where Zoro was tied and answered without looking at the swordsman "Playing dirty is something every pirate does. And I know you are going to join me, after all the sword is your treasure, aren't they? Shishishi~" Luffy grinned at the swordsman who didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the words from the pirate.

[If I search the base from top to bottom I'll eventually find his swords.] Luffy was looking at the top of the base as there seemed to have a big commotion going on there as he could feel the presence of various people together [Unexpectedly the base actually is quite high.]

[Hmm~ About five dashes maybe?] Luffy that was still in front of Zoro lightly jumped off and in an instant he vanished while kick the air and accelerating to the point of almost teleportation as he was already less than 10 meters from the top [Shit!] Luffy miscalculated while using Geppo and Soru to move in the air in high speed and after the last dash he was in a direct collision route with a statue being erected [I should have paid a little more attention when Gramps was teaching me this. Well, I'll just phase through it anyway]

*Bang*

*Crack*

Contrary to his expectation of just passing through what actually greeted him was a solid hit when he collided with the statue [Sea Stone? Who would waste sea stone to build a fucking statue?!] Luffy was cursing at the mongrel that decided to build a giant statue made of sea stone.

As he managed to stand on the top of the base tower he could hear in the background the sound of the statue's other half falling and shattering on the floor while around him no even the sound of breath from the people around him.

"Hmmm~" Luffy looked at his surroundings and no matter in which direction he looked the expression on their faces was the same a mix of anger and panic and a little of fear "My bad?"

"Capture Him! I'm going to kill him!" a big guy with an ax where his right hand should have been who seemed to be the boss around the place yelled at the top of his lungs and in his voice could be felt a bone deep hatred for the man who broke the statue.

"It's him, dad!" Helmeppo still being supported by two marines was at the side of the crowd "He is the one who hit me!"

[Oh found something that will help in the search.] Luffy followed the annoying voice and zoomed on Helmeppo snatching him from the hands of the marines that were supporting him and began dragging the stupid son away inside the base.

"Hey idiot. Where did you hide Zoro's katana?" Luffy lifted Helmeppo in front of him while running trying to get the location of the katana out of him but "You better release me right now or else I'll have my father kill you!" was the reply he got from the bastard son which of course wasn't the answer he was expecting "Wrong answer." obviously unhappy at the uncooperative Helmeppo Luffy delivered a small bullet of compressed air between Helmeppo's brows producing an "Ouch!" from him.

"Second chance. Where did you hide Zoro's katana?" the spoiled son clearly wasn't a fan of getting hurt as he promptly replied "I left them in my room." after getting an acceptable answer Luffy grinned and asked "And where exactly is your room?" this time Helmeppo didn't waste a heartbeat to answer fearing another round of pain "First room after a turn to the right."

Luffy immediately rushed following the direction he was given and certain enough while opening the door it was definitely a room of a spoiled child while in the corner of the room there were three katanas on the floor by the window.

[The window from his room has a view of the yard where Zoro is being held, huh] as Luffy got closer to grab the katana he looked outside the window [Shit! They are going after him and ... what the hell is Coby doing down there?!] down at the yard where Zoro was being kept the marines were marching there probably in order to execute Zoro and Coby, who had already been shot in the arm, while another portion of the marines were going after Luffy.

[It has to be one of them anyway.] without much time to think Luffy just grabbed all the katanas that were lying on the floor with one hand and with the other he grabbed onto Helmeppo and jumped out of the window [This time I'm sure that two dashes are enough.] the pirate once again used the combination of Geppo and Soru [I should probably come up with a name for this already.] and within seconds Luffy was already on the yard.

The moment Luffy had jumped out of the window the marines had already opened fire against the tied Zoro and Coby but before the bullets could reach their targets a black shadow intercepted them.

"Phew~! Talk about a close call." Luffy was hiding behind Helmeppo's body that had been used as a shield and had taken almost all the shots fired "Ah, don't need to worry. I stopped all the bullets that were going to hit his vitals so he should be more or less okay after some treatment." just as Luffy's words reached the marines so did Helmeppo's body that was tossed over to them.

As the marines were already preparing to catch the flying body an ax hand struck his body aside "How dare you break my statue and disrespect me ... and use my son as a shield!" Morgan was fuming at the youth wearing a straw hat in front of him.

"Are you sure your priorities are in the right order?" Luffy was caught off guard when he saw Morgan just punching his son's unconscious body aside and at the speech in which clearly he only notice that his son was used as a shield only after punching him aside, not that it mattered much to him though.

"I'm marine Lt Axe-Hand Morgan! And I'll have you executed for disrespecting me!" Morgan roared at Luffy but to his surprise the straw hat wearing boy was completely ignoring him and chatting with the prisoner.

"Hey I didn't know which katana was yours so I grabbed all the ones I saw." Luffy lifted three katanas so Zoro could see which one was his.

"All three of them are mine. I'm a santoryu user." Zoro looked at his three katanas in front of him as if they were the most precious thing in the world.

"Shishishi~" Luffy grinned and hid the katanas behind his back under his overcoat "After you join me I'll give them back to you."

"How dare you play this dirty?!" Zoro yelled at the attitude of the youth in front of him "Whatever ... the shrimp already told me that they were going to execute me anyways. Good guy or bad guy never mattered to me anyway and after break free I'll already be considered an outlaw so might as well join you."

"Shishishi~ Kamaitachi: Thousand Blades." Luffy raised his hand in front of him and several wind blades rushed at Zoro cutting the ties around him "Let's see what we can do together then." as the captain said this he threw the swords at his future first mate.

"Okay captain." just as the swordsman got the swords there was already dozen of marines rushing at them as Morgan probably ordered them to tear the two outlaws apart after being ignored.

"Move an inch and I'll end your lives." several swords were swinging at the two men who were having their relaxing chat but none of them could move an inch further as three katanas suddenly blocked all of them "My dream is to be the best swordsman in the world. If any of your actions hinder my path I'll have you cut your stomach open as an apology."

"Shishishi~ best swordsman, huh. I'm the man who is going to be the Pirate King." Luffy smiled at the swordsman in front of him stopping a wave of marines "If you don't become the best them I would be troubled too shishishi~" Luffy looked at Zoro and swung his leg in front of him while saying "I suggest you to duck. Kamaitachi: Big Cutter." a big wind blade slashed at the marines that were stopped by Zoro's katanas.

"What kind of monster are you?" Zoro looked in disbelief at the man he decided to follow [This world really is a big place to exist such monsters.]

"Better not be that surprised yet shishishi~" Luffy said while looking at the dumbfounded Zoro "The big boss is still standing." and as he said Morgan had actually managed to somehow block the wind slash and held his ground.

"The father should atone for his offspring faults." Zoro straightened his body and started walking towards Morgan "You should have taught your son to not break his promises like a true man." wish a single dash Zoro had already slashed Morgan beyond his endurance.

"Ooh~ even though you could have just killed him you decided to let him live?" Luffy was grinning at the swordsman sheathing his katanas and removing his bandana.

"It was neither a duel nor a fight to the death." Zoro looked at the straw-hat wearing boy in front sizing him up "And I'm still alive, aren't I?"


	7. Escape! Official start of the crew!

**Author Note:**

Sorry for the wait but I finally have some time start working on this fic again. orz

Expect a few chapters on the following days.

PS: Even though I tried to get a Beta Reader to help spotting my mistakes it doesn't seem to be that easy so please try don't be so harsh but feel free to review and DM me if you spot any typos/grammar errors as I'll try to fix them ASAP.

Next chapter our second strawhat will finally join the crew!

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.**

* * *

After the Morgan's defeat unexpectedly the marines instead of going after Luffy and Zoro actually locked the Marine Lieutenant in a prison cell after removing his axe.

As for the pirates, they had fled as soon as Morgan had hit the ground leaving only the marines at the execution grounds.

"Shishishi~ I didn't expect you to be so skilled after starving for so many days." Luffy was laughing his lungs out while eating inside a bar while Zoro was drinking and looking at the youth wolfing down more than 10 servings of meat.

"I may have gone a few days without eating but it looks like you went for years of starving for the amount of food you are devouring." Zoro was at a loss whether to laugh or cry as the man in front of him didn't show any signs that he would be full anytime soon "Oh yea. What are your plans next? Since I'm already considered an outlaw and agreed to follow you I want to know what I got myself into."

"Hmm ... I'm heading for the Grand Line next and go after One Piece to become the Pirate King." Luffy was grinning as he bit on the last piece of meat "But I would like to get at least a few more members before going but ... the two of us should be able to enter the Grand Line with no problem, maybe."

"Since we are going after the grand treasure THE One Piece it won't hurt to head that direction!" Zoro was chugging on his beer while looking at the fidgeting captain in front of him "But I guess we do need a few more members to sail those waters. Do you have anyone in mind already?"

"Hmm ... Let's see, I guess we need have to look for someone who knows how to sail a ship first." Luffy closed his eyes pondering deeply on the pirate roles he remembered "But I really don't know where we can find such person here"

'How can someone who doesn't even know how to sail a ship wants to be a pirate king?' Zoro's inner conflict was interrupted at Luffy's next words

"By the way, you should probably pack your things already. It seems we have to run shishishi~."

"Don't tell me you can't even pay all the food you just ate?" Zoro almost spit his beer when thinking about the bill over this simple meal but he soon felt relieved as soon as the pirate threw a small bag on the table while yelling "Hey, Aunty! We are leaving already."

As the two left the bar they could see a multitude of marines rushing towards them.

"Shishishi~ We better get going Zoro." Luffy smiled at his new companion before looking at the incoming marines.

"It seems that I truly became a pirate now." Zoro indifferently looked at the crowd getting nearer by the second moving only after the urging from his new Captain.

After running through the streets of the small town they soon arrived at the docks where the pirate ship was supposed to be but ... there was no ship in sight. Not even a small lifeboat.

"Oy oy ... didn't you say that you had a ship docked here?" Zoro looked around again but there really was nothing in there.

"Shishishi~ Maybe it just sank with the tide." Luffy's carefree words stumped Zoro.

'What kind of freaking pirate ship just simply sinks with the tide?!' Zoro couldn't help but curse his fate for allying himself with such a pirate 'Talk about some shitty luck. I'm never coming back to this part of the sea.'

"Oh! It seems today is our lucky day shishishi."

Luffy's words stopped the swordsman train of fate cursing words but before he could retort he was suddenly afflicted with a sense of weightlessness, or more accurately he felt like he was thrown as if he was a paper ball and when his senses came back the first thing that greeted him was the blue skies above and the beautiful sea below.

"FUUUUCK!" That was the only word that came out of the swordsman mouth and also the only thought in his head.

When the marines were close to encircling them, Luffy had grabbed onto Zoro and propelled both of them of the ground and to the skies and in a few seconds they were a little over a kilometer away from the shore.

"Shishishi~" Luffy was just laughing the whole time and specially when Zoro freaked out just now.

As soon as they reached the 3 kilometer mark Zoro finally saw a small ship sailing calmly with no one at the helm.

'Oy! Oy oy oy ... Don't tell me that ...' before the swordsman could finish his thoughts they began to rapidly descend.

Both of them fell from a height of almost 500 meters and the poor ship almost caved in with the impact and raised a cloud of smoke, probably from the merchandise they crashed onto.

"Shishishi~ That was a better landing than I expected." Luffy was grinning from ear to ear while his new companion was still a little out of it.

As soon as the cloud vanished, Zoro and Luffy just looked around and to no surprise 'A pirate ship indeed.'

They fell on a pirate ship that had just robbed a merchant ship and were heading back their hideout and when they fell all the pirates on the ship readied for battle and were pointing their blades at the source of the commotion.

* * *

" Yaawn~ How much longer until we reach that whatever town you guys spoke about?" Zoro was sitting against the railing of the small boat napping from time to time under the warm sunlight.

"Just a few more seconds Pirate Hunter sir." one of the man that previously pointed their swords at Luffy and Zoro was now respectfully answering the swordsman while bowing slightly avoiding eye contact in order to not anger the man.

"Shishishi~ There is no need to hurry Zoro" Luffy was calmly sitting at the front of the boat looking at the vast blue fishing as if he was on a leisure trip.

It didn't matter how one looked at it but this young man fishing as if there was nothing wrong with the situation didn't fit with the image a pirate captain should have.

'I can't see him as anything other than an idiot playing pirate no matter how I look at it.' Zoro just stared at the young man for a few seconds before closing his eyes again for another afternoon nap 'But the real idiot in the end is me how decided to follow him. I really wonder why I decided to be his comrade at that time.'

Even though Zoro was napping he didn't let his guard down, after all he and the idiot playing pirate had in fact hijacked a pirate ship and although the pirates were acting respectfully in front of them no one knew when they would stab them in the back.

"You must really like those swords to even sleep while hugging them." Luffy looked at Zoro that had one arm around his swords while sleeping against the railing.

"Hmpf, I indeed like them but having them near is not solely for the purpose of fun, you know?" Zoro replied while just casting a side glance at Luffy that was laughing for catching another fish "If I had to say, you are just too full of openings and that definitely isn't a good thing for someone aiming to be the Pirate King."

"Shishishi~ So it means in your eyes my guard is down huh..." Luffy just laughed at the swordsman's words and after pausing for a second he continued "It's actually good that you are able to see that my guard is down."

At his Captain's words Zoro looked confused as if he didn't understand what the young man was saying to him and Luffy detected that confusion and followed with his explanation.

"You being able to seem my guard down means that I have one less direction to look out for, after all I have my comrade looking out for me and I can leave my back to him while I focus in a more important task." Luffy's words surely weren't something Zoro was expecting coming from a young man playing pirate.

"So you mean to say that you are purposefully lowering your guard at the direction I'm at?" the swordsman was trying to test how much his Captain meant by fishing for words.

"Shishishi~ You may be a good swordsman but it's best for you to not play mind games." Luffy smiled at Zoro who was just staring at him with a blank face "Even I was able to notice it and I'm not the smartest out there shishishi~"

"Even though I said I would follow you it doesn't mean that I won't stab you in the back if you lower your guard, you know? After all, now I'm also a pirate" Zoro replied while taking hold of the white katana on his shoulder.

"Shishishi~ There is no pirate that would warn someone before stabbing them in the back." Luffy casually glanced at Zoro before continuing "And the way you are right now you wouldn't be able to stab me even if I let you."

Incensed by the young man's words the swordsman rapidly executed a fast drawing motion of his katana attacking his Captain that had his guard lowered in order to make him realize his mistake but what happened next gave him a start.

His sword was stopped by a mere fishing rod they found laying around on the deck.

"Shishishi~ I may prefer using my fists but it doesn't mean that I don't know who to use what is around me as well"

What was just supposed to be a little trick ended with the two fighting for a good half an hour with Luffy using the fishing rod and Zoro his white katana and the few pirates witnessing such fight made a resolution after watching two monster just playing around and almost slashing the main mast in half.

'Let's not do anything harsh and just take them to a town.' with eye contact alone all the pirates came to an understanding 'Let alone stab them in the back or throwing them off the boat. Not being accidentally killed while they fight is already good enough.'


	8. Reunion with a thieving kitten

**Author Note:**

I know my _writing_ quality isn't the best but I do try my best to bring a good work for you guys.

I'm publishing without the help of a Beta Reader(but I'm trying to find someone interested in helping me) so please pm me or review and I'll correct ASAP.

ºrz orz ºrz orz

 **DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the characters in this story as it is purely a fan work. All rights reserved for Oda Eiichiro.**

* * *

After two days sailing without encountering any problems Luffy had already finished all the rations the pirates had prepared to survive a month o sailing and now the unfortunate pirates on top of having their ship hijacked were being forced to fish to feed one of the monsters but none of them showed any displeasure.

"Shishishi~ why don't you try fishing as well Zoro? It's pretty relaxing." Luffy was laughing while looking at the swordsman that didn't move from the spot he sat on the first day and would just occasionally stand to relieve himself or to grab something to eat.

"My idea of relaxing apparently is not the same as yours." from the swordsman point of view the only one relaxing while fishing was that idiot Captain, as for the others they were actually forced to do so to avoid starving and to keep Luffy well fed after all they knew that they could take neither Luffy nor Zoro in a fight 'That is some pretty desperate people.'

"Oooh~! There is an island over there!" Luffy joyously threw away his rod into the ocean and looked back at Zoro "I'm going ahead, Zoro."

Luffy jumped into the air and shot like a bullet towards the island leaving the pirates on the boat shocked looking at such an unexpected scene but when they thought that was just a monster less for them to worry about a wave of pressure fell upon them as Zoro's voice echoed in their ears

"Why are you just standing? Make haste and take me to the town already." the swordsman voice combine with his pressuring aura felt like a knife cutting at their skin as they hurried and began rowing as if their life depended on the boat arriving even a second earlier at the shore.

'I really don't know what kind of trouble he will cause while I'm not around.' Zoro this time was seriously concerned after all for a pirate to just go strolling on a marine base he sure had a few screws loose.

* * *

Unaware of the swordsman's worries about problems disturbing their journey, Luffy was sitting on a roof top at the center of the town looking for signs of people but strangely enough it was as if the town people were forced to escape without being able to prepare as there were still some stalls at the sides and a few of them clearly had fresh made food.

'Did some kind of monster attack this town?' Luffy kept looking while moving towards the residential area 'Not likely as there is no signs of fighting nor any destruction of buildings. Mountain bandits are also unlikely as they would at most bother the people around town but wouldn't be able to drive everyone out.'

As he reached the residential area he finally saw people for the first time and judging from the situation, three man pursuing a girl, he finally understood what happened to the town people 'Pirates huh'.

'I finally got my hands on a map to the Grand Line' Nami was running away from three pirates 'All I have to do now is get out alive'

'Ooh~ Who would have expected that I would meet that thieving cat again so soon.' Luffy recognized Nami as soon as he could clearly see the figures of the people running 'What will she do now? I doesn't look like she can outrun them and she probably can't knock them out either' he continued observing her running through the streets getting in and out of alleys as if trying to outsmart her pursuers but even when she lost two of them at least one always stayed with her

'Should I help?' Just as he was debating whether to help the girl or not a voice suddenly disrupted his thoughts.

"How long are you just going to watch without helping me, Boss?!" Nami was directly in front of the building looking at up at the roof where Luffy was watching the whole situation happen.

"Shishishi~" unexpected to him she had already seen him and didn't hesitate to get him involved.

'If you want to watch a good show why not take part in it too?' Nami's eyes clearly conveyed her feelings as she gazed at Luffy's eyes without blinking while lightly smiling.

'Let's play along for now and whatever happens I will deal with it later.' Luffy jumped from the roof top and landed softly in front of Nami inclining slightly placing his mouth at the side of her face and near her ear.

"Have you ever thought that I could just be their companion and would just take you down and have them taken back to the base?" his voice was low enough that only she could hear

"If you really were their companion you would have already attacked me when I ran through here the first time." not shying away from the young man she replied in the same way with her mouth at his ear as if whispering a lovers promise.

"Shishishi~" Luffy backed a few steps while laughing and holding his sides "So you indeed saw me way before and here I was thinking why you didn't try to run towards the port but instead kept running in circles."

Just after they finished their exchange of words the pirates that had been running after Nami finished circling them.

"It seems your Boss is here now but it doesn't change a thing" one of the pirates began talking after confirming that they wouldn't be able to run anymore "Now why don't you hand over the map back and we might think about letting you go after a few rounds with us brothers." the pirate speaking to them had a lecherous look on his face as he stared at Nami hiding the map behind her back.

Hearing his words it was clear that even if they gave the map back to them it was unlikely that they would let Nami get away and even less likely that her _Boss_ would be without a scratch.

'Pirates like Shanks are really few huh.' Luffy's brow creased at the pirate but didn't say anything waiting to see how the girl in front of him would react but it didn't seem that she was planning to give in to them as she was already motioning to grab something on her back.

"Hey Nº1 is he really the Boss? Look at him!" one of the pirates that was encircling them commented while looking at Luffy "The only thing noteworthy is that coat of his but he has nothing but sandals and that stupid strawhat. I wouldn't even shit on a hat like that."

"I was going to pretend that nothing happened and just let you guys go after a few punches but ..." Luffy was already satisfied from looking at Nami's reaction and to tell the truth he was really fed up with the pirate trio as they just tried to make use of their numbers to lord over others " Even though you are so weak you sure know how to piss someone off."

Without waiting for either Nami or the pirates encircling them to react Luffy had already run to the front of the pirate that made fun of his hat and delivered a blow to his chest and sent him crashing into a nearby wall and while the other pirates stared at their companion knocked out cold they didn't even notice when the world got upside down and the lights went out.

"I guess this closes the deal with them." Luffy dusting off his hands turned to Nami that was giving him a big thumps up.

"I didn't know you were that strong." Nami released a low laugh and came closer to Luffy "But it's a first to see someone get so pissed for being called poor."

The guy who made fun of Luffy clearly was in the worst condition compared to the other two as he would have to stay in bed for at least two months and would probably not be able to wield a saber ever again as his right arm was making an awkward angle.

"If he hadn't said anything about my hat he probably would still be walking right now." Luffy scoffed as he clearly was still in a bad humor.

"I haven't introduced myself yet. Name is Nami and I specialize in robbing pirates." Nami smiled at the youth and continued her introduction "Want to team up? You are strong and I'm smart. How about it?"

"Not interested." Luffy just turned and started walking heading back to the central part of the town to where all those food stalls were.

"Hey wait a minute!" Nami quickly dashed after him 'If we were to team up it would surely help me a great deal as I would be able to go after those stronger pirates' even as she was following him she didn't stop calculation pros and cons.

"But why would you get so angry just because he said something about your hat?" to break the silence between them Nami tried asking for the reason why he would suddenly be in such a bad mood "Is it valuable?"

"Yeah, this hat actually is my treasure." being asked about his favorite hat Luffy's mood was gradually improving.

"Treasure huh? Do you keep jewels in it? Perhaps a treasure map?" Nami's eyes started glistening as she began asking and staring at his hat.

"Shishishi~" Luffy just laughed as her intentions were clearly displayed on her face "Drop the ideas as we both know you can't take it. I've got things to do so leave me alone."


End file.
